Ultima Thule

Genudgivelse i nyt format. Grønland har i mange år været en kilde til fascination og inspiration for fotografen Henrik Saxgren, og han har gennem flere opsøgt det nordligste Grønland og her fundet stof til sit nye fotografiske værk, Ultima Thule. I Grønland finder han mål for sin kunstneriske søgen i samspillet mellem naturen og fangernes farefulde liv. Med en blanding af nysgerrighed og nøgtern undren skildrer han deres færd og deres jagt på havet og på isen, han viser den tavse, monumentale, storladne natur, de lever i, han viser dramaet ved deres møde med naturen, de fysiske omkostninger ved det liv, de lever, i et smukt fotografisk sprog, der rækker langt ud over blot og bar dokumentation.

Historically, Ultima Thule has been a concept for ‘the northernmost boundary with the end of the world’, a mythical place. For more than 200 years artists, writers, scientists and adventurers have felt the attraction of life on this boundary. In this succession, Danish photographer Henrik Saxgren (* 1953 in Randers) locates his work which explores the life in Arctic Greenland. Spread over six journeys, he spent more than six months in the Thule region. His photographs document the life of what may be the last generation of hunters on the sea ice of Thule, hunting and catching the great (sea) mammals, like their ancestors for centuries before them. Despite of the physically and mentally challenging conditions, Saxgren continued his work and created new pictures for which he even sometimes had to overcome his own fear: pictures that can supplement the narrative of the Arctic, its drama, its myths.

Historically, Ultima Thule has been a concept for ‘the northernmost boundary with the end of the world’, a mythical place. For more than 200 years artists, writers, scientists and adventurers have felt the attraction of life on this boundary. In this succession, Danish photographer Henrik Saxgren (* 1953 in Randers) locates his work which explores the life in Arctic Greenland. Spread over six journeys, he spent more than six months in the Thule region. His photographs document the life of what may be the last generation of hunters on the sea ice of Thule, hunting and catching the great (sea) mammals, like their ancestors for centuries before them. Despite of the physically and mentally challenging conditions, Saxgren continued his work and created new pictures for which he even sometimes had to overcome his own fear: pictures that can supplement the narrative of the Arctic, its drama, its myths.